"Argh!" Alistair backed away, getting up to his feet and clutching his wrist. Pluto glowered at him, teeth bared. "Why, you little —"
Footsteps echoed behind him. Alistair felt his cheeks burn as Arleea approached, confusion and apprehension coloring her face.
"What?" she was gasping. "What?"
"Your furry friend here took offense at me getting near his food!" Alistair said, pointing his other hand to Pluto who barked angrily at him. "He snapped at me! Look —" he stretched out a hand and showed his bleeding thumb. The wound was not too deep, and perhaps he was over-reacting, but the dog's bite still scared him. For all he knew Pluto could have chewed off his whole hand.
Arleea stared at him, then to her hound and vice versa. She raised an eyebrow.
"Alistair, he is a war dog," she argued. "If you wanted him to share his food, you should've just told me."
"It's not —" Alistair gaped. "What? I'm not going to share his food! I was just going to tease him!"
Arleea frowned, cheeks turning red. "Oh."
"I —" Alistair stammered, feeling the heat rising to his face. He grunted and looked back at Pluto who resumed eating. "Nevermind. Sometimes I forget he's a war dog. That'll teach me."
Arleea was still staring at him and Alistair spotted her ears turning pink too.
"T-That wasn't what I meant," she muttered. "I-It was . . . just don't do that again." She hurriedly turned away from him and approached the hound, patting him on the head. Her face was still red and she was already avoiding Alistair's eyes as she muttered, "Who's a good boy?" Alistair walked back next to the campfire feeling flustered.
Wonderful, he thought. That's one way to make a fool of yourself.
He sat there watching Arleea rubbing Pluto's stomach. She stifled a laugh as the dog barked.
"You can't win her affection by making fun of her mabari, Alistair," Leliana said suddenly, causing him to jump where he sat.
So she had been watching.
"I wasn't doing that!" he hissed, feeling the blush return to his face. "I just wanted to play with the dog. I wasn't trying to get her to notice me by making fun of him!"
Leliana giggled and shook her head. She moved away when Wynne called her and asked something. Alistair was fuming, eyes falling back on Arleea who was now just sitting talking to Pluto.
Right. Not only did he make himself look stupid in front of the pretty elf girl, but he also made her dog angry. He won't be winning all her attention anytime soon.